“The set-up: The following scene from the Feb. 13 premiere is the first time we see Echo (Eliza Dushku) wake up after having her memories wiped in the special memory-flushing chair. That leads into a discussion between lab tech Topher (Fran Kranz) and Echo’s handler Boyd (Harry Lennix) about her last “date,” delving into just what being a doll/active means.”

Merrick at Ain’t It Cool wasn’t all that impressed, saying that the pacing isn’t quite right and the dialogue is a bit off. I have to admit that the end of the scene doesn’t feel great pace-wise and the dialogue is a bit odd, but I would attribute that to the fact that we have no context for the scene and haven’t met these characters yet.

That said, I’m still looking forward to watching Dollhouse when it premieres on FOX February 13. I’ve had a thing for Eliza Dushku since her Buffy/Angel days and want to see a Whedon show succeed. Buffy was great. Firefly was great but was never really given a fair shake by FOX. Will Dollhouse suffer the same fate?

I just hope it’s good enough to survive more than a few episodes. It’s already had a rough time and hasn’t even aired yet.